The B.C. Teachers
p - Federation (BCTF) is wrong in
_saving chat tutors are unri

ed and unqualified, Most
§ tutors are specialists in ESL or
learning disabilities. There are
certificate as weil as degree pro-
grams. The Canadian Academy
of. Therapeutic Tutors certifies,

: j does criminal record checks,
me ongoing training and profes-
sional support. The fast issue is

one of space. If we're not at the
school, we may be at the public
library. Why nut house educa-

tors in schools? It’s safer.

It is commendable that
North Vancouver school dis-
trict is seeking out and paying
for training in sequential,
multi-sensory teaching tech-
niques. Have they also budget-
ed for replacing the 30 special
education assistants? “These
people have many duties apart
from academic remediation.

Certainly, both schools and
education ‘have changed. A
very obvious change is the high
proportion of ESL students to
English language-based stu-

dents. Tell the immigrant sup-
port groups that your children
will not permitted to be
tutored on school property.
Does that make sense? In truth,
when a child is tutored, the
dassroom teacher is freed to
attend to needy students who
cannot afford tutoring. We
need to save on our ESL costs
and this should be encouraged.

There is also a change in the
way that the school day is
scheduled. Many secondary
students have study blocks or a
two- to three-period gap in

their school day. This is one
time when students meet with
their tutors. There are about
20% of students with a specific
learning disability such as
dyslexia (language-based) or
discalcula (math-based).

As French is not required
for university entrance, children
are often tutored during
French classes. It is considered
a better use of the students’
time to become adept at basic
skills than to became confused
over yet another language.

Parents are not available

Sunday, May 28, 2000 —- North Shore News - 9

MAIL Box:

Teachers’ union wrong about school

Ma Dear Editor:

during the day to mke their
children to a tutor. For those
children who do have a ride,
they lose time from the periods

before and after the tutorial
when they could be in class.

There should be caution
when a whole body of know!l-
edge is left to one group of
people. This is where the teach-
ing of reading has fallen for
new ideas to the exclusion of
our traditional skill in teaching
reading.

One has to ask the BCTF,
do you really think that only

It’s time to get vintage streetcar back on track

Dear Editor:

Articles have been sent to
mein regards to Streetcar
153. This spark may turn into
a‘ fire and something may
finally TeciaPPen to get things

m Aug, 29, 1986, at 6

“after an absence “of 39:

years, Streetcar 153 came up
Lonsdale Avenue to. Mahon

Park, only this time it was on

: aflat-bed truck. |
‘Decisions had to be. made
as to Where to put the car and
who would. be qualified to
handle the job. ;
I. went .to. the North
ancouver school board and
board: members thought it
uld bea great idea to par-
ticipate-in taking on the car’s
restoration. The senior boys’
woodworking class," under
sipervision,. would, work on
the. car. It could be stored at

1. found this out: some
later. * Unfortunately:

school :
“21990.

: ae am. — —
ae Wi je pro} to
‘ West-Bay. schoo! playing: field

that is being reviewed by West.
: : District Council +

t the «.:
‘property

not be able to handle such a
large undertaking. So, 1 start-_
ed all over again.

I found some space under
the new stadium in Mahon
Park. The parks department
and the city said it was OK.
The end wall of the stadium
was taken down and some
gardens moved around.
Special heating was installed,
tools and work benches were
put in. All was ready when our
smeetcar came up on Aug. 29,
1986

Now to find someone who
could handle the job. This
turned out to be a bigger jab
than I thought! It took 11%
months of interviews to find
someone with the qualifica-
tions needed.

I. got’a cail from Carl
Anderson. .He was retiring
from Burrard Shipyards in a
month as a ship joiner. I asked
him if he would like to come

. and have a look see. He liked

what he saw plus. the chal-

en ¢, so he came on board

tworked for the next 14
months, starting in March

“told ‘me there will be some’
‘light ‘spilling into the  sur-

rounding. : properties. My
borders: the school
field on:the northeast corner,
and “it” would be one of the
properties: most affected” by
the ‘lighting. :

My. bac! atd would be lit

iB
up as if I had a street light i in

¢ with regar

There’ are“ several issues

‘d.to this proposal:

lighting,” increased traffic,
decrease in ‘Property

ko Machanical Division...
irs to'all miakes of Cars and
teh rucks (Foreign & rap

Next we had drattsman
Bob Booth come on_ board.
He took care of any plans we
needed plus our supplies and
special lumber required, an
important part of the project.

Then Carl got down to
business with a shovel and
vacuum to take out all of the
chicken muck from the car,
which had been used as a
chicken coop for a number of
years. If the streetcar was to
be used as a static display, we
would not have had such a
large job. We wanted it to
run, that was a different story.

When the public heard
that we had a streetcar, my
phone rang constandy offer-
ing, bits and pieces of memo-
rabilia, some belonging to our
car, some not, such as doors,
windows, hand straps, scats,
advertising signs, etc. I got a
call to go to a home in North
Vancouver and it was full of
streetcar memorabilia. 1 had
to have a city truck come and
load up. Our car seats came
from a home where a chap

‘had a church in his basement

were the straw seats painted
blue, which washed off easily.
The only item we didn’t get
was the original head lamps.
Next came the trucks and
there were none available in
Canada or the U.S. It took a
lot of phone calls looking for
trucks. The only piace that
had trucks was Belgium,
which was still using street-
ears. The chairman of our
committee, Gary Payne, was
going overseas on a holiday.
We asked if he would like
to go to Belgium as they had
the type of trucks that we
could use. The City of Nelson

and had closed it down. They )

However I am mostly con-

‘cerned about the obtrusive-

ness of the lighting and noise.
I have lived at the same ioca-

‘tion for 35: years and have —
recently completed extensive |

renovations on my house.
I have chosen to continue
to live and raise my family

here because of the quietness”
“and privacy my: surroundings
. on T would hate to see this

. Ro
.: West Vancouver...

go throu .
Krag-Hansen

also ordered trucks. The
trucks for both cities were
shipped to Vancouver. Our
trucks are still stored in a
building next to Presentation
House.

We still have things to do
such as the automatic doors,
plus a few other items, The
car will then be ready to go!
Then let’s find a place co run
it and enjoy it. It has been too
long a time in coming.
William J. Baker
The founding retired
Director of the North Shore
Museum and Archives
Summerland, B.C.

) th, Lies” a
& The District
. Budget

Visit Ernie’s ‘Website. .
www. yourpolitician. com/c iste

Canada’s largest indoor git:

storm. You the vendoy, decorate and stock your booth and our full ime:
. stall serve the customers and process the sales - seven‘ days a week
Many of our vendors ae enjoying sucoess beyond Beir wildest expectaions

‘Spsning island Highway Noith, Nanaimo, B.C. VOT
isit Our web site at www. crafters-marketplace, co

tutors

students should tutor cach
other? Do you have ume to
train peer tutors in every sub-
ject as well as in teaching itself?
What kind of world is it when
the kids have only each other to
turn to for help? Bear in mind
that they have tried to make it.
with the classroom teacher’s
help and they couldn’t.

The new provincial skills
assessment tests should encour-
age teachers to bring tutors in
for their students because the
teachers’ reputation will partly
rest with cheir students’ marks.
If space were the issue, what
would be a reasonable fee?

This motion was passed by
the North Vancouver Teachers’
Association last year.

It will be ratified by the
entire province this year ifinter-
ested groups do not fight it. Ir
does not permit any tutoring
on school property — not
before school, during lunch or
after school
S.E. Bookless
Therapeutic tutor

‘North Vancouver

athena
white i wait for :